Interview Janssen Erdbeerkulturen
Company history
The Janssen Company was started in 1960 by Arnold Janssen, who left the Netherlands (Driegaardsestraat) for Germany in 1957. Arnold starts a fruit company here in Kalkar and starts his love for strawberries.
In 1979 his son Erich Janssen joined the company, after which strawberry cultivation and propagation became the main activity and in 1989 he took over the management.
In 1997 the fruit cultivation is completely stopped, the production of young strawberry plants is expanded. In doing so, the company is responding to the trend of the time and meets the growing desire of consumers for food that is produced in a controlled manner and grows itself.
In 2010, Erich and his wife Hiltrud started looking for young strawberry plants, they specialized in this and developed their own 10-er tray for this.
When the demand for seedling varieties grows, Janssen is well prepared. Although these are more complex to produce and therefore more expensive, they exactly meet customer demand. These are, for example, different ever-bearing strawberries, but also varieties with different flower colours that provide an abundant yield.
In 2011, Erich Janssen will apply biological crop protection measures. Production will be expanded with 1 hectare of greenhouse.
In 2015: With “Fridulin, the cheerful strawberry” Erich Janssen develops the strawberry plants for the third millennium in Kalkar and thus once again proves his flair for the market. Fridulin fulfils exactly the unstoppable craving for sweet fruit and is perfect for the increasingly popular urban gardening.
In 2018, Janssen will expand further. A new cold store is being built on an area of more than 400 square meters: 2,200 cubic meters of solid insulated space, progressive in production processes, sustainability and energy efficiency.
In 2019, the new housing for seasonal workers, which Erich Janssen completed at the end of 2018, will be filled with the workers for the first time. On 600 square meters the seasonal workers will find rooms with their own satellite TV, a spacious communal kitchen with pantries, bathroom and washing facilities and a covered terrace for free hours.
In 2020, son Daniel and daughter Monic will join the company in preparation for the future when one of the two will continue the business.
New developments
Janssen will propagate its own cuttings from 2021, these cuttings will be taken from the mother plant.
Strawberry plants are grown from these cuttings and these strawberry plants are intended for consumer sale, so no strawberries are grown.
The advantage of these own cuttings is that you can control the quality yourself, can grow extra strong plants and are flexible.
In 2020, they also set up their own laboratory with which new species can be propagated with tissue plants.
In order to grow these cuttings, Janssen had to “sacrifice” a part of a production greenhouse. To compensate for this space for production, an additional 1.8 Ha production greenhouse will be built at the end of 2021.
Trintech
In order to be able to water the new mother plants with cuttings, the water management had to be adjusted and a drip installation and a spray installation had to be installed.
Erich called in Trintech for this and entered discussions with advisor Gaston Pauwels, with whom he has been doing business satisfactorily for decades.
Gaston asks him why he chose Trintech again:
Correct and professional advice
Trintech has a lot of know-how at its disposal
Trintech is Flexible
Fairly close
Good Service.
And Priva has professionals in-house.
After Gaston went through the installation with Erich, Trintech set up a flow chart and discussed it with Erich Janssen, after which a quote was issued.
The first flow scheme has been set up in such a way that the future, but also future requirements, are considered. After that, the scheme was simplified and further elaborated, so that it was also cost-effective for Erich to start.
Trintech subsequently supplied and installed a ProfiMIX installation with the accompanying drip system. A drainage system has also been installed.
In the future, the drain water will also be disinfected and reused by means of a ProfiFILTER (cloth filter) and a ProfiCLEAN (UV disinfectant).
The existing Priva Integro computer has been converted to Priva Connext with the latest software version that will allow you to move forward in the coming years.
Gaston, in consultation with Erich, has the wishes and requirements for a spray boom
fixed. For this, Luuktech (part of Trintech) has developed a special spray boom, this boom is transported over the central aisle by means of a mother truck.
The boom is transported in the hood by means of a heating tube, the boom has spray arms that rise with each rank.
The customer is very pleased with the craftsmanship and guidance shown by Trintech and Luuktech.
Future Janssen
Erich sees the future very brightly and is pleased that this is also guaranteed with the succession.
As indicated, 1.8 hectares will be added by the end of 2021 in order to have full production capacity again. Trintech may again take care of the Water and Electrical installation here.
In the further future, Erich sees an expansion to a total of 12 hectares. In addition, further sustainability and automation projects are in the pipeline.
Erich is happy with a further collaboration with Trintech.